Saturday 8th April 2006
England Sevens Coach Mike Friday describes the humidity as 'trying to play rugby in a furnace' and England did well to win two of their pool matches and top their pool on day one of the Singapore Sevens today. England faced a tough pool in the sixth IRB Sevens, which is notoriously hard for all teams given the extreme humidity and heat. They began well despite a slightly shaky start, with a 26-12 win over Kenya, before beating Korea convincingly 47-5. The final pool game match was against traditional sevens rivals Samoa with Samoa this time taking the victory with a 14-12 win over England.
England 26 Kenya 12
It always takes England a few minutes to shake off the cob webs and the speedy Kenyans (who beat Samoa) seemed to enjoy the heat compared to the Hong Kong champions England. Kenya went 7-0 up but England recovered well with tries from Henry Paul (Gloucester), Tom Varndell (Leicester Tigers) and two from Saracens flanker Dave Seymour to finish up 26-12 winners.
England 47 Korea 5
England faced Korea next and showed that they had adjusted to the playing conditions much better than in their opening match. Showing much better patience and focus England were impressive in both defence and attack. Tries from Tom Varndell (2), Henry Paul and a hat trick from Sale Sharks scrum half Ben Foden, along with six successful conversions from IRB Sevens Leading Points Scorer Ben Gollings meant that England recorded a comfortable victory over the Koreans.
England 12 Samoa 14
The final pool game match was the much anticipated clash against Samoa. Matches between England and Samoa are notoriously close affairs - often finishing within one score of each other. In recent tournaments England have taken the spoils, but Samoa played well taking a 14-0 lead. England made some uncharacteristic errors in the first half but came back with tries from Tom Varndell and Nils Mordt (London Irish). Henry Paul got a conversion but the Samoans finished up on top as the hooter went. However, it didn't affect the day one result as England topped the pool and progress through to a quarter final match against Australia.
The other quarter finals are New Zealand v. Argentina, South Africa v. France and Samoa v. Fiji.
Speaking at the end of day one Mike Friday said, "Today was a topsy turvy day for England. The conditions here are incredibly hard for all the teams but some are more used to the humidity than others. Our training in Bali is proving invaluable, and means the boys are able to recover more quickly than in previous years, but its still a big ask for any player to play international sevens for 14 minutes in heat like this. We are disappointed not to have won all three matches, but at the same time our matches against Samoa are always very tough and very physical.
"Today will be a valuable learning curve for the England players, especially the youngsters, who have not had to deal with many defeats on this trip. It will hopefully show them that England don't always win, and that you have to go out and earn every victory. We now need to move on from today and focus on tomorrow where we face another test in the form of Australia, who will be looking for revenge after the Commonwealth Games."
England play Australia at 14.42 tomorrow (7.42am GMT).
England – Ben Gollings, Ben Russell (Saracens), Dan Luger, David Seymour (Saracens), Simon Amor, Captain (Gloucester), David Strettle (Rotherham), Mathew Tait (Newcastle Falcons), Ben Foden (Sale Sharks), Tom Varndell (Leicester Tigers), Henry Paul (Gloucester), Nils Mordt, Andy Vilk (Northampton Saints).
